Reckless Abandon
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Ichigo is an adult living a life that is seemingly at the beck and call of others. Beginning to become restless he searches for something- no, scratch that- he searches for someone. Ichigo/OC Rated M please R
1. Chapter 1

**Reckless Abandon-**

It started in late Autumn.

Ichigo Kurosaki was walking home sometime in the late evening, paying attention to nothing, not really noticing the way the leaves in the trees swaying above his head looked like they had caught on fire in the setting sun. It had been a long day for him. Tiring and horribly long, but not unfulfilling considering what he had spent the better part of his day doing.

At twenty five, thanks entirely to his father's planning for his future ahead of time, he owned his own chain of apartments and small portions of land here and there- And was a landlord. If something broke at one or more of the apartment buildings he owned, it was his job to fix it. And fix it, he did.

He'd spent the better part of his day putting in several safety bars for an elderly woman and her husband, evicting two families who refused to stick to the rules he'd given them upon moving into his buildings, remodeling a bathroom entirely because a widow had asked him if he would mind helping, (playing with several kids who had attended a birthday party in his building) it wasn't his job, but he_ loved_ doing it.

Perhaps because some foeign part of him wanted so badly to settle down with a nice girl. And maybe have a kid or two of his own. God knew he was so family oriented that it was almost pathetic.

He'd often been told by his friends that he was almost like a stray dog waiting for a master to come and take it in. Which was a less than flattering way to have someone see him. But here lately he often saw the comparison in himself as well.

It was strange- no scratch that- it was beyond strange. But he supposed that there was no helping it for the moment. Sighing heavily, he absently began to plan out tomorrow and paused in mid step when he heard the sound of a scuffle up ahead. Tilting his head slightly to the side some of his orange hair slipped over his face, covering his honey gold/amber eyes a mere moment before he took off running.

He wasn't far from the sound and though there weren't many muggers, gangs or thugs around the area- from time to time someone did get grabbed. And the easiest targets were women or young girls.

And being as he knew what could happen to women and children who were foolish enough to wander close to dark places- he couldn't help but feel it was his civic duty to protect everyone he came across. So if he came across someone in trouble up ahead; he'd save them. And if it was just a rat trying to escape from a cat or dog, he'd sigh and silently thank god it was nothing serious.

His long legs eating up the distance between where he had been and where he felt he needed to be, he ran until he reached the place he had heard the noise from and took a moment to blink in shock before raw fury began to color his mind. It was a small gang of six guys, almost all of which were moving around a woman held immobile by one of the men while another was touching her with one filthy hand while holding a knife to her throat in a threatening manner.

Forgetting that he held his tool box, he let it clatter to the ground spilling the contents on the pavement while he took a brief moment to grab his sharpest screwdriver and ducked into the nearest growing group of shadows and silently, stealthily made his way over to the group and attacked. Taking out first the man with the knife by grabbing his wrist and pulling his arm back and stabbing him so that the blade clattered to the ground useless and momentarily forgotten as the man's shrill screams of pain rang through the ever growing darkness. The others all noticing the menacing presence that had just dropped in on them- halting their fun and games for the moment- turned on him baring their teeth and snarling like animals causing a small ghost of a smile to curve his sensuous mouth.

Now he wasn't the type to kick an animal over spilled milk or food, but a helpless woman was another story altogether. And if these guys thought they could take him, the former substitute shinigami, Ichigo Kurosaki- they had another thing coming. And he was going to make sure that his lesson stuck. "Sorry guys. Party time is over-" He said as his eyes flashed from honey gold/amber to a soft yellow color as he went for the guy holding onto the woman.

The sickening crack of flesh and bone striking home, made him smile as the man screamed and loosened his hold on the woman enough for Ichigo to reach out and snag her wrist and quickly pull her against his body and lock her in place there with an arm around her slender shoulders as he absently took note of various things about her.

She had thick chocolate brown waist length hair, her head just barely reached the center of his chest meaning that she stood at five foot three, maybe four. Her body was petite, delicately boned, too fragile for someone like him to handle roughly- yet he felt the press of her breasts against his body, could smell the sweet intoxicating scent coming from her skin, and he felt lost.

Hopelessly and completely, genuinely- _lost_.

And all it took was a few minutes to take out some thugs... His dad would laugh himself silly if he knew about this. He thought with a small surge of irritation. Luckily he wasn't planning to tell anyone anything.


	2. Chapter 2

**Reckless Abandon-**

The moment that he finished laying out all of the thugs, Ichigo turned his attention to the woman in his arms and loosened his almost painful hold on her so that he could give her some breathing space since her face was pressed to hard against his leather jacket. At first the woman didn't move, didn't speak. In fact it was as if she were frozen in place.

He couldn't even tell if she was breathing! So was so utterly and unbelievably still.

Almost like a wild animal caught in the headlights of an ongoing vehicle. Gently placing one hand on one of her shoulder's, he took a small step back away from her and leaned down a little bit so that he didn't seem so intimidating to her, being as he stood a good two feet six inches higher than she did and asked in a low and soothing voice, "Hey are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

The woman still didn't speak for a heartbeat or so before tilting her head back and staring up at him with jade green eyes that held a great deal of fear and perhaps just a bit of trepidation as well. But it was what he saw hidden in the furthest recesses of the lovely depths that held him spellbound.

There was fury there. Hidden deeply under the other feelings, but it was there never the less.

He was about to ask her something else when she slapped his hand away from her shoulder and quickly ducked under his arm and grabbed something that looked like a small black purse and took off running in the direction he had come from only moments earlier, leaving him more than a little bit confused and bewildered by her behavior. Sighing he looked around the now empty street and decided that he should go pick up his things and get a move on.

Then looking back down at the thugs that had attacked the woman, he felt his left eye twitch a little bit as he wondered if perhaps he should call the police to round the fools up as well. He started back towards his toolbox and couldn't have been more than four or five paces from the groaning and unconscious guys on the ground when he stepped on something and lifted his foot to see a black wallet laying on the pavement and narrowed his eyes a little bit.

_What the hell? _He wondered as he dropped down to one knee and carefully picked it up and examined it.

It was new, couldn't have been more than a few weeks or even a month. The leather was still stiff yet at the same time not. Flipping it open he thought about who could have dropped something like this out in the open. Then wondered if perhaps the thugs he'd just finished beating had maybe preyed on someone else tonight. And though he knew it was none of his business- well, some part of him was feeling- strangely enough, _nosey_.

So he took a moment to go through it. Noting that there was two credit cards and one check card in it along with forty dollars in cash. But what really drew his attention was the I.D. and the picture of the person that the wallet belonged to.

The image on the I.D. was the same as the woman he had saved. And he had to admit, if she hadn't been jumped tonight and he had seen her on the street- he just may have turned around and followed her home.

She was _beautiful_.

Not like his long time school mates Tatski or Orihime. Or even like his shinigami friend Rukia.

But she was beautiful just the same in her own haunting way. Her name was Kay Araki, she was half Japanese or was of at least Japanese decent if the picture was any indication. Which might have explained the green eyes. She was twenty two. Would be twenty three come April next year.

She weighed one hundred and fifteen pounds.

Was five foot six. Blood type AB positive.

And last but not least, the final piece of the puzzle that sent a chill down his spine. He found a small piece of paper hidden behind her I.D. with an address written on it. The address matched the address of his latest new attendant in the closest of his apartment buildings. A small smile curved his lips as he placed everything back where it had been and stuffed the wallet in his jacket pocket.

Making a mental note to go see if she made it home okay and give her back her wallet as soon as he went home, showered and got dressed again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Reckless Abandon-**

All in all it took him ten minutes to get home.

And another ten to strip out of his dirty clothing and get into the shower. Standing under the spray of the warm water, his mind strayed to the woman- No, her name was not _woman_- it was _Kay_. A strange name to be sure, but a simple enough one to remember. Once he was done washing himself, he turned off the water and reached out of the shower and snagged the fluffy red towel that lay on the counter of his sink and roughly began to dry his wild orange hair.

It would take more than a measly little towel to dry his unruly locks. Especially since he had taken a page from Tatski's book and kept most of his hair short and spikey with the exception of the back. The back of his hair made him look more and more like his hollow self- the length of it falling almost past the middle of his back, which he kept tied back into a sleek ponytail at his nape.

Once he was done making sure that he wouldn't drip anywhere, he took his time drying off his wet skin with one hand while using the other to work the tangles out of the rats mess he had created as he stepped out of the shower and slowly made his way over to the bathroom mirror to look at himself.

He had changed so much since his high school days as a delinquent and a substitute shinigami. He'd grown taller- certainly- and was still muscular. His body carrying more than it's fair share of lean muscle. Giving him a nice 'gym workout' appearance without being what many people referred to as 'muscle heads'.

Which basically meant that they had more muscle than their bodies than they should be capable of carrying.

Which in Ichigo's opinion gave new meaning to the phrase; _more brawn than brains._

His bangs were a little bit longer, falling into his eyes while he had let some of it grow out long enough to frame his face and flirt with his jaw. Any and all traces of the boy he had been so many years ago were gone. Utterly and absolutely gone. If not for the shape of his face (which he thanked his mother for everyday) then his peculiar appearance as a child would not have resulted in the sensual man he had become.

Old battle scars from his days as a shinigami aside... He was practically a flawless image of masculinity.

Looking away from his reflection, he picked up his watch and glanced at the time. Damn, he'd wasted too much time staring at himself in the mirror that Kay had liely either had enough time to barricade herself in or decided to leave her apartment and run far, far away altogether. And that wouldn't do. It just wouldn't do at all.

Besides...

He was kind of worried about her and wanted to see with his own eyes whether or not she had made it home okay. Grabbing his clothing, he started to dress himself while mentally going over what he would need to get in to see her. He doubted she would just open the door for him this late at night even if she knew him. And a late night introduction would come across as- well weird.

She wouldn't feel safe with him despite his intentions not to hurt her.

Hell, for all he knew once she saw him, she may think he had followed her for the sole purpose of attacking her. And he honestly couldn't say that he would blame her for that reaction if that's what was awaiting him. But just in case, he'd be taking the lock picking kit he had gotten for his last birthday from his sister Karin, due to the fact that he kept losing the master keys to each of his apartment buildings.

Once he had his jeans on, he tossed his towel in the laundry basket and walked out of the bathroom so that he could grab what he needed to tie his hair back, get his key's, wallet and lock picking kit. Then he'd slip on his shoes and grab a jacket- because just showing up to a strangers house half naked was considered not only strange- but rude. Besides for all he knew she might freak out at the sight of him standing in her doorway all bare chested and stuff.

He was about to head for the door when it occurred to him that maybe, just maybe he should get some of the papers that proved he had a right to be near the apartments so late just in case the woman was so freaked by his sudden appearance that she called the cops.

Riffling through the stuff in his desk, he found what he needed and promptly folded the papers and stuck them into his back pants pocket then snagged his leather jacket from his bed and made his way through his house to the front door and stepped out, closing the door behind him.

(******************************************************************************************************************************************)

Kay stood with her back against her apartment door, staring blankly ahead as she panted.

_Jesus Christ!_ She had known that going out at night was a mistake, but being as she had been too busy unpacking her things and working on making the cozy two bedroom apartment a nice and suitable home for her for the time being- she hadn't bothered to do any grocery shopping when she should have. And so she had decided to put her work for the day aside and leave her new home so that she could go buy something from a local market store and had been grabbed by those- those- animals!

And the guy that had saved her; don't get her wrong, she was grateful to him for saving her from an unknown (and quite possible fate worse than death) but he had been down right scary!

Freakishly so.

Which was why she found herself standing with her back braced against the door looking more frightened than she could remember ever feeling before in her life. Sliding her back down the door until she was in a sitting position, she pulled her knees in close to her chest and blinked several times to keep from crying. What was it with her and trouble?

Did she have a tattoo on her forehead that said, **_Trouble, I'm here and I'm helpless. Find me! _**

Why couldn't she just be left alone to do her work? Why did everything have to be so difficult? She wondered as she bit her lower lip to stifle the small whimpering sound that was threatening to escape her throat before she mentally shook herself and changed the whimper to a low growl of annoyance. Well, whatever. She was alive. That was all that mattered.

Sighing tiredly, she suddenly felt drained of any energy she had left. A nice long bath and maybe a goodnight's sleep might go a long ways toward restoring her energy. Getting up, she used the wall beside the door to keep herself from collapsing and took several staggering steps towards her new bedroom and gently closed the door.


	4. Chapter 4

**Reckless Abandon-**

Ichigo slipped into the dark apartment without needing to break into it.

Turns out that his new tenant had either forgotten to lock the door once she had gotten in or she just hadn't gotten in yet. Silently, stealthily, he closed the door to the cozy two bedroom apartment that he had remodeled just a few short months ago and looked for any signs of life among the empty/half empty boxes.

The only problem about being in the apartment with so much packed and half unpacked stuff is that he wasn't quite sure if anything was missing or not. He had no idea what the norm was for Kay. Deciding to do a walk-through, he began to slowly and systematically move through the apartment starting in the rooms with empty boxes like the kitchen, living room and spare bedroom.

The first place he went through was the kitchen- mainly because he was curious as to what could have made Kay leave her home so late at night. And after looking in the refrigerator, he got his answer. There was no trace of food anywhere in the apartment. Not in the fridge, freezer, or the cabinets that lined the walls.

_Good grief- _He thought feeling slightly annoyed. _I should have brought a fruit basket or some cookies or something to keep her from starving to death. _

Sighing Ichigo scratched his head and left the small kitchen and made his way to the spare bedroom and silently opened the door and blinked at the interior of the room. He had to give Kay props where props were due, the gal obviously moved fast when it came to unpacking and decorating. The cream colored walls of the room were offset by the pale blue carpet on the floor, the bed across the room covered in matching blue hued sheets and quilt with blue and cream colored pillows strewn about. The one small window in the room had blue and cream colored curtains hanging over it.

There were two cherry wood book shelves full to over flowing with books ranging from the encyclopedia, to several dictionaries in several different languages, and the rest... Well, he'd never even heard of them before. But after picking one up and thumbing through the crisp pages, he was somewhat surprised to find that the book he held in his hands was a rare first edition.

And last but not least, just a few steps away was a small cherry wood desk with a pile of loose papers on it and a typewriter. Moving over to stand next to the desk, he stared at the stack of paper's curiously and noted that it was labeled, **_The Demon's_ _Woman_**.

_What the hell is this? _He wondered as he let his gaze wander over the paper. _My, my, it would seem that Kay fancied herself a writer. And a damn good one at that- _He thought as a flush worked it's way across his pale face. Now Ichigo was in no way an innocent or pure man. Not in the virginal sense anyways, but what he had just read on the paper in his hand made him feel like a school boy peeking at a dirty magazine for the first time. Or maybe a more accurate assessment of what he was feeling was more along the lines of- he felt like a guy going through his girlfriend's clothing looking for a thong or something to carry on him.

His blood quickened in his veins, his heart sped up in his chest, His breath hitched in his throat and he wasn't totally sure but it kind of felt like his jeans were a little bit tighter than they had been just a few moments ago.

Softly clearing his throat ( and completely missing the slightly strangled sound he made while doing it) he lay the paper back down in place and decided to leave the bedroom. Reading that paper had gotten the old blood pumping and if he stayed a second longer he wasn't sure he'd ever manage to leave without either A) Reading some more of Kay's work.

He had to admit, she'd gotten _his_ attention with the very steamy intro.

Or B) Doing something unforgivable and totally perverted to the poor woman. Thus scaring her away before he even had the chance to get to know her at all. And that would be a pity.

Silently leaving the spare bedroom he continued his walk-through the apartment, scarcely noticing the furniture, the paintings hanging on the walls here and there. He was a bit more curious as to why he saw no knick nacks, no family photo's, no albums of friends lying about as he made his way quietly to the main bedroom and reached for the door knob, ready to open the door when he paused.

He could hear the faintest sound of breathing coming from the other side of the door.

Frowning, he silently opened the door and peeked into the room. Noting that it was completely dark in here as well. But that didn't stop him from being able to see the woman's outline laying partially face down on the bed. Her long dark hair tied back into a loose braid, she was out cold from what he could see, one arm firmly tucked under the pillow in her grasp and a towel tightly gripped in her free hand- But that wasn't what really got his attention here.

It was the sight of the overly large shirt she was wearing to sleep in and the pale smooth skin of her legs.

Gulping a little bit from the sudden nervous feeling that he felt fluttering in the pit of his stomach- he looked away from her feeling just a tad bit guilty for seeing her in such a vulnerable and helpless state and quickly stepped back out of the room and closed the door behind him figuring that he'd done enough investigating/checking up on her for the night.

And with one last thing in mind, slipped her wallet out of his jacket pocket and then left the apartment.


	5. Chapter 5

**Reckless Abandon-**

Ichigo cracked his eyes open bright and early the next day to the sound of his cell ringing and sighed tiredly as he rolled over onto his stomach and reached out. Fumbling around for a second, he slammed his hand down on the expensive piece of technology and took a moment to peek at the time on the small screen. It was just after nine in the morning. Meaning that Mrs. Tanaka was undoubtedly up and on the move.

Which was probably why he got so many calls early in the morning.

It wasn't that the eighty something year old woman was a menace to society or anything, I mean, come on; she was just a sweet elderly lady. But with as many calls as he got about the woman- one would think that she _was _a menace to society or something.

But in truth the woman was just a sweet old lady with far too much time on her wrinkled, precious little hands. And as vexing as Ichigo found her sometimes, it never seemed to stop him from spending a few hours conspiring with her over small things like relationships and such. Lord knew that she loved his company just as much as he loved hers. Not only that but she must have been a grandmother at some point since every time he visited, she had cookies.

Lots and lots of wonderful, mouth wateringly delicious cookies.

Sighing again he rolled over onto his back and tried to think of what could have the ol' gal's gander up this time when it occurred to him that she lived in the same building as Kay. Bolting upright in his bed at the mere possibility of Mrs. Tanaka trying to fix Kay up with some random guy because she felt the woman needed herself a nice 'young fella' to take care of her- nearly sent his blood pressure soaring through the roof in rage.

He wanted no 'young fella's' anywhere near Kay unless it was him!

Startled by the sudden turn of his thoughts, he sat there in his bed for a moment with his cell in hand. Wondering where the hell his thoughts about the enigmatic woman had come from. Sure he had dreamt about her while he had been sleeping. He even felt a tad bit hot and bothered at the moment. But still...

To have become so damn possessive after just seeing her face just once. What was he? An animal? Had he smelled the sweet perfume of her skin and on some primal level thought, **_Mine. _**Or could what he was feeling just be because of something else? His inner hollow perhaps? God knew that the damn thing still came out to play from time to time. So it could be a possibility...right?

Huffing now that he was wide awake and had some work to do, he threw back the sheets on his bed and swung his legs over the side and set his bare feet on the floor then stood up, letting what was left of his sheets that were tangled around his naked hips fall away as he thought, _Well whatever I feel for Kay at the moment, I'll simply classify it as curiosity until I get to know her better. _

It was a good thing that today he needed to go by and introduce himself as Kay's landlord and take a fruit basket to her before he took care of the Mrs. Tanaka problem.

_(*********************************************************************************************************************************************)_

An hour later-

Kay yawned tiredly, and blunk her pale green eyes as she padded through her apartment in her nightshirt. Her long dark hair was tangled a little bit and the rest of it was tousled from her long night of sleeping like the dead, which meant that taking her brush to it in a few minutes was going to be a real bitch. But it needed to be done if she was going to be presentable enough to go out and get some groceries.

There was a soft knock at her door, causing her to still in mid motion like an animal caught in the head lights of a car as she glanced over one of her slender shoulders as the knocking sound came again.

This time a tad bit louder and more insistent.

_Or I could just go lock myself in my bedroom and just slowly starve to death in the coming days. _She thought wryly as she huffed and rubbed the nape of her neck and then looked down at herself and her semi state of undress. The knocking just got louder- becoming almost frantic. Matching up with the sudden speed that her heart was beating at as she thought, _Yeah... I really don't wanna answer the door. _

"Yoo-hoo," A feminine voice called happily from the other side of the door, making her blink again. "I know that your there hon! You might as well open up!" The strange person called as Kay paled a little bit and looked longingly towards her bedroom. She didn't know whom was outside her home, and to be perfectly honest- she didn't really care.

She just wished that whoever it was didn't suddenly give her a feeling of foreboding. Like she was about to be invaded by aliens or something.

The knocking persisted for several more seconds when she heard whoever it was outside suddenly start talking to someone and took a very quick step in the direction of her bedroom as something was inserted into the lock on her door a mere moment before she heard a masculine voice call out to her, "Landlord, hope your decent in there cause we're coming in!"

Making a strangled sound in the back of her throat Kay quickly turned and ran back to her bedroom and slammed the door shut as the apartment door was pushed open a little bit and she could have sworn that she heard said masculine voice say, "Huh, looks like she wasn't decent at all."


	6. Chapter 6

**Reckless Abandon-**

Forty five minutes earlier-

The moment Ichigo had reached the apartment building, he had known he was in trouble.

Mrs. Tanaka had met him with a heart shaped cookie tin tucked under one arm, and she had been dressed in her finest lavender silk dress and silver shawl. Her snow white hair had been put up and was held in place by the carved pink and white mother of pearl hair comb that her late husband had given her for their thirtieth anniversary. But that wasn't what alarmed him a bit. It was the fact that she was glaring at him and tapping her foot on the pavement.

She only did that when she was miffed at him for something.

Groaning at what he may or may not have done to induce the little white haired woman's ire, he carefully climbed off of his motorcycle and took off his helmet and set it aside before reaching for the fruit basket hanging from his handle bars and said, "Good morning Mrs. Tanaka. Your looking well today."

"Don't you 'good morning' me boy," The woman growled at him in a surely manner before fairly screeching at him, "Why didn't you inform me that there was a new gal moving into the building?!" Ichigo smiled at her despite the fact that the bottom had just dropped out of his stomach. Oh good lord, she knew about Kay!

He covertly stole a glance at the sky. Checking to see if it had suddenly caught fire and nearly gulped when he realized that the end of days hadn't actually started just yet, and yes, he was in deep shit here. Or at least he would be if he didn't introduce her to Kay_ immediately_.

Mrs. Tanaka would become so irked with him that she would put him on permanent cookie denial. And that was something that he would not allow...At least not until he tried to talk the cagey little old woman out of visiting just yet. Something told him that Kay probably wasn't awake and ready to tackle any visitors. Putting the hand not holding the fruit basket up in the air in front of him in a pacifying gesture, he stared the little old woman down and said, "Now, now. Don't get your dander up. I wasn't here last week so even I didn't know about her until yesterday."

Mrs. Tanaka gave him a doubtful look before asking, "So what do you know about her?"

_Aside from the fact that she's probably terrified to leave the apartment right about now after last night's incident_, Ichigo thought sarcastically before mentally adding, _Nada_. _Nothing. Zip. _He knew her about as well as he knew Rukia's brother, Byakuya after a night of drinking and chit chat. Mrs. Tanaka waited expectantly for him to answer her earlier question when she realized that he seemed to have forgotten about it and sighed before stating in a peeved tone. "Answer my question boy, or the cookie jar is closed to you forever."

Not much of a threat, really. But if there was one thing Ichigo always looked forward too- it was her home made cookies. He suspected that that had to do with the fact that he had never known his own grandparents or something. Making a low sound in the back of his throat, he thought for a moment then said weakly, "She lives in apartment 104..."

To which Mrs. Tanaka clapped her hands and finally smiled at him and said excitedly, "Wonderful! We'll go up and introduce ourselves now."

He bristled a bit and wanted to say something like, 'Hey wait!' or 'She may not even be home.' or even 'It's sort of early in the morning to go knocking on doors!' but he couldn't manage to get the words out because Mrs. Tanaka had already started making a beeline for the stairs fifty feet away, leaving him gaping where he stood. Honestly the woman's audacity stunned him.

But he recovered quickly enough to catch up to her half way up to Kay's apartment while thinking, _This isn't going to go well. I just know it._


	7. Chapter 7

**Reckless Abandon-**

At present-

Kay stood with her back against her bedroom door listening to the sounds of the man and woman let themselves into her apartment and wondered briefly if it had been the land lords plan all along not to include a window in the master bedroom for one to use as an escape route if needed. But then the absurdity of the thought hit her and she face palmed as the thought, _Well if he had a lot of people would probably use it to try and avoid him come collection day._

So maybe the fact that there was no window was a good thing as much as a bad one.

She sighed and hung her head a little bit and tried to think for a moment about what to do about her current situation since it sounded like her two unwanted visitors were making themselves at home while waiting for her to come out. Something that should have freaked her out immensely, but strangely enough she felt calm. A little twitchy and otherwise shaken- but calm nevertheless.

Or at least she was until she heard the lightest tapping of knuckles against her door, right by her ear and nearly jumped out of her skin as she let out a slightly hysterical sound and moved away from the door and put as much distance between her and it as she could. Acting as if she were a small child facing down a sinister ghost or spirit.

It was ridiculous, really. Especially since she wasn't a coward. Not by nature anyways. She never had been.

But the past two years before moving to japan had changed her a great deal. She had suffered more than any person should have suffered and now was still attempting to put the pieces of her fragmented heart and soul back together again.

The slight rapping sound came again and she found herself moving around her bed, over to the small bedside table where she had a revolver hidden and began to inch her hand towards the weapon's hiding place as if she expected whoever was on the other side of her door to kick it down and grab her by the hair and drag her- _No! _That wouldn't happen again. Ever.

"Hey are you okay in there?" The masculine voice asked from the other side of the door, causing her to still completely and suck in a breath as her chest slammed against her ribs almost painfully.

_No. _She wasn't okay. She hadn't had any time to take her meds, clean herself up and get dressed- Oh bother, why was she sitting here mentally snapping and snarling to herself when she should be kicking his sorry ass out of her home and tossing his little friend out too?

"Look I know that you don't know me," The voice said again before continuing on. "But Mrs. Tanaka is one of your neighbors and she really wanted to meet you-" She narrowed her green eyes to slits as if she were going to say, 'So what?' "She's in her eighties and kind of set in her ways. I only came became...well I should introduce myself to you since I'm you're land lord. That and someone needs to be able to let the old woman know when she's over stayed her welcome." He fell silent for a moment as if he were unsure of what to say next when he suddenly said in a coaxing tone.

"We have tea made. And some fruits and some homemade cookies if you'd like to come out and sit for a little bit and visit."

_Now why the hell would she want to do something stupid like that and encourage them to stay? _Did he think she was dim witted or deranged? She didn't want to visit. She didn't want to make friends. She didn't want these people in her home!

The man on the other side of her bedroom door sighed loudly enough for her to hear before saying, "Alright. I'll make a deal with you. We'll wait for you to come out for thirty minutes. If by the end of that time you still refuse to come out and visit- we'll leave."


End file.
